The Hillsdale College women's tennis team wrapped up the fall portion of its schedule with a solid showing in the ITA Midwest Regional this past weekend, hosted by Grand Valley State University.
The culmination of the fall tennis season, the ITA Midwest Regional brings together all the top players in the region for singles and doubles play. The Chargers held their own, claiming several victories and highlighted by two deep runs in the B Doubles bracket.
Hillsdale's team of juniors
Julia Zlateva and
Emma Palus made it all the way to the Monday semifinal in the B bracket, claiming victories over teams from Roosevelt (8-6), Rockhurst (8-5) and Tiffin (8-5) before finally falling to the third seed from Davenport in an 8-4 match in the semis.
The Chargers' freshman pairing of
Emily Muresan and
Addison Trotter also went to Monday on the consolation side of the bracket in B doubles, beating teams from Quincy (8-1) and McKendree (8-5) on the way to the consolation semifinal round.
Hillsdale's other two doubles teams each picked up a victory. In A doubles, Hillsdale's top pairing of senior
Ane Dannhauser and junior
Briana Rees beat a team from Missouri-St. Louis 8-5 before falling in the round of 16, while sophomores
Dimitra Papastavrou and
Esther Sura took an 8-3 victory over a team from Saginaw Valley State in B doubles before a loss in the round of 16.
In singles play, six of Hillsdale's nine players won at least one match. Zlateva made the deepest run in the A singles bracket, beating Victoria Watine of Purdue Northwest 6-2, 6-4 and Tanisha Kantam of SVSU 6-4, 6-1 to reach the consolation bracket quarterfinal.
Dannhauser won her opening round in A singles, beating Maelys Thiery-James of UIndy 6-4, 4-6, 11-9, and Muresan also took a first round victory in A singles with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Camila Valencia Ramos of Roosevelt. Rees beat Haruka Homma of Northwood 6-3, 6-2 in the consolation bracket as well.
In the B draw, both Sura and Trotter advanced past the first round. Sura took down Elene Churruca Murua 7-6 (5), 6-0 in her first match, and Trotter beat Alexandra Cedeno Hernandez of Missouri-St. Louis 6-2, 6-4 as well.
Hillsdale will now turn its focus to training for the spring season and battling to contend for a G-MAC title. The Chargers will return from winter break and open the spring calendar with a match at home against Spring Arbor on Jan. 29, 2027.
